Chicago has turned its entire river bright green for St Patrick’s Day.

The dyeing of the river, which turns the water a healthy-looking (not really) fluorescent green, is an annual tradition on the Chicago River.

Every year ahead of St Patrick’s Day, the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union pours the dye into the water.

And they’ve been doing it since 1961.

‘One boat drops the dye into the water and it’s an orange powdery substance, and it’s completely environmentally safe,’ the parade coordinator Pat McCarthy told ABC7 Chicago.

‘Once the orange powder hits the water, it turns a vibrant green.

‘The second boat follows and stirs it up to make sure that the dye spreads out.’

Apparently the dye is the same stuff plumbers use to detect leaks in pipes.

McCarthy explained: ‘Apparently there were a couple of guys doing it [detecting leaks] a lot one day, they came to the union hall and the business manager saw them covered in green… and he got the idea, “I wonder if we put it in the river, would the river stay green?”‘

Now that the river has all been dyed, the city is having a massive parade to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, which is on Friday March 17.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Ashitha Nagesh

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